Noble Metals. Others

In the previous articles we have already written about noble metals. Then we told You in details some interesting facts about gold, silver, platinum, they are all used in the investment process and well-known to everyone.

Though, there's one more big and rather important group of noble metals, not so popular, but still not less important. Besides, they are not used in online investments so often, though, nevertheless, they are worth mentioning. Besides, we think, it should be in every investor's encyclopaedia.As usually we'll start with the very beginning. For a long time, almost till the end of XVIII century there was an opinion that there are only 7 metals in the world: gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin, and lead.

Gold and silver, not subjected to air, moisture and high temperature influence, took the name of absolute, noble metals. The rest of the metals, losing its metallic luster being under the influence of water and air, and turn into friable, powdery cinder (oxides) were called not absolute, not noble.

Such metals' division is widely used nowadays as well, the only difference is that platinum and four satellites: rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium were added to 2 noble metals of the Middle Ages - gold and silver - at the end of XVIII - start of XIX centuries. Ruthenium, the fifth platinum satellite was discovered barely in 1844.

So, the rest of noble metals we have to tell You are: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, and iridium. For You it's nothing - though such metals as palladium, for example, can be bought for investment on the same conditions as gold, for example.

All these metals, just like platinum (they are called platinum group) were the last noble metals, discovered by mankind. These metals have a number of features, due to which they have become so narrowly spread, so narrowly specialized and in the upshot not so suitable for using in investments, like gold, for example.

The thing is that taking into account importance and value, the major importance is the quantity of the metal. So then, platinoids are always discovered together, accumulated in the rocks, formed from mantle magmas. The platinoids' concentrations are extremely low.

Nevertheless, noble metals can be found in nature most of all in the natural (native) form. Silver can be an exception, being both in the form of nuggets and compounds, meaning ore minerals (silver glance, or argentite Ag2S, cerargyrite AgCl and others).

The most widespread among them, platinum and palladium, are found in the earth's crust at the rate of 0.0000005%, the rest is much less, we have written about platinum in the previous article and You know, why this metal is valuable, and as You possibly understood is the main element in the group that was discovered first.

English physicist and chemist W. Wollaston discovered palladium barely in 1803.. Palladium got its name from the small planet of Pallada. Later on this scientist discovered rhodium that was called in such a way because of its rink-red color and its salts. (from Greek rhodon - rose).

In the year 1804 English chemist S. Tennant, has discovered two new metals, investigating the residuum of dilution the native platinum in aqua-regia (mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids). One of them was iridium - due to variety of colors of its salts (from Greek, iris - rainbow).

The second one was called osmium due to the strong smell of its oxide OsO4 (from Greek, osme - smell). Finally, in the year of 1844, the professor of Kazan university K.K. Klaus discovered another platinum satellite - ruthenium (from lat. Rhuthenia - Russia).

It's interesting, the material for Klaus's researches were the refining residuum o- Ural native platinum. It was discovered in gold-dust of Verkh-Isetskyi autonomous region in the year 1819. Soon, "white, "anuran gold was discovered in some other places. in the year of 1823 V.V. Lyubarskiy proved that all this discoveries is nothing else than native platinum, and the world was through with discovering metals.

All these metals are used in computer engineering, and in chemistry in abundance. They all have properties, extremely valuable for certain reactions, impossible to realize in some other way.

Speaking of the metals as investment tools, it's hard to say, these metals are of major importance. They can really help You to earn money, though I doubt whether just as effectively as gold or platinum.:)

Well, then, our travel to the country of metals, interesting facts from their life is over. We hope, it was interesting for You and are sure, it was useful. These four articles will take adequate place in the encyclopaedia of investors. It's a profession and You should be professional.

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